So I hope to get a decent set of equipment for myself. I also am thinking of starting up a club at my college for this, where would they be able to buy a decent sword and buckler that they would be able to purchase for a low price?

Also say I got the Albion I.33 sword and someone else got a sword of lesser quality and we were sparring. Would it harm my sword?

Good quality swords tend to notch low quality swords, not the other way around, so no worries there. I have never tried the A&As, but the Albion I.33 is a good sword. We generally use narrow (3,8-1,9 cm) Armour Class swords. They

The 12" buckler should be suitable for most."this [fight] looks curious, almost like a game. See, they are looking around them before they fall, to find a dry spot to fall on, or they are falling on their shields. Can you see blood on their cloths and weapons? No. This must be trickery."
-Reidar Sendeman, from King Sverre's Saga, 1201

I do a lot of work with I.33. My preferred bucklers are the Merc Tailor 11" steel buckler and the Alchem 11" buckler. The GDFB buckler is way to heavy. I haven't used the windrose one, so can't comment.

I like both the A+A scholar sword and the Albion I.33, about equally. Both are excellent.

Until I saw the recent thread on tangs breaking, I would have recommended the tinker hanwei's as a possible cheaper alternative. I have handled a few but don't own one.

I do use Alchem's "scarf swords" for I.33 as well. They don't look as nice as the Albion or A+A, and they are less accurate in terms of weight and balance, but they are perfectly useable and IMO are safer due to their greater flex in the blade. I'd put a safety tip on the end though. And although they are much, much cheaper, they are every bit as durable as the A+A and Albion swords, even when used against them (as I do regularly).

Until I saw the recent thread on tangs breaking, I would have recommended the tinker hanwei's as a possible cheaper alternative. I have handled a few but don't own one.

Personally I use the H/T Norman sword which is peened, not threaded with a nut assembly. It's a bit tip-heavy in comparison to the other one-handed H/T swords but it suits me for I.33 (the swords that broke were the H/T early medieval swords, which have threaded tangs).The Knights Hospitaller: http://www.hospitaalridders.nl

The MT buckler is nicer looking than the alchem. I don't know that it is actually more historical, but it is more handcrafted and made with traditional means. It also has a pad glued in behind the boss/umbo. The grip is twisted steel bar.

The Alchem is well made but you can see the ripples in the metal where it has been spun rather than dished or raised. The grip is wood dowel bolted on with carriage bolts. No attempt is made to disguise the modern manufacture.

One other significant difference, though, is that the body of the MT buckler is flat, and the grip protrudes in a small arch, whereas the alchem buckler is convex (like the images in I.33) and the grip is straight across the boss. I personally prefer the handling characteristics and coverage provided by the alchem buckler somewhat. It isn't a huge difference.

I bought three bucklers from Alchem several years ago, and then two years ago bought twelve more. The overall quality had gone up, except that the dowel handle was a bit thicker. I like my old ones better in that regard.

Note that my first one has been abused to hell and back, but I still use it regularly.

I have not found a cheaper buckler than the alchem that I would use for I.33. They are out there, but they are either way to heavy or way to flimsy in my experience (in fact, so are some of the more expensive ones). Honestly, the alchem is simply the best value for money, unless you are specifically after historical accuracy. (IMO)

Typically the tinker hanwei line tends to be lighter and better balanced than the hanwei practical line, but looking at the stats of the norman versions on KoA, they seem to be opposite in this case. The tinkers also have more flex but narrower points and thinner edges. I have had older generation practical knightly swords and found them very unweildy. The tinker medieval swords I've handled have been fine, but apparently there have been some isolated incidents of tang failure. Still, if you buy from KoA, they will typically solve problems like this if it happens to you. And a tang break is in my opinion less bad than a blade break.Ottawa Swordplay

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